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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD/Bluray) 2025
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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD/Bluray) 2026
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Upcoming: UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2025)
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Upcoming: UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2026)
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Upcoming: Festivals UK & Europe (2026)
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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2025)
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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2026)
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Author Archives: brianmc
Album review : FANNY – Rock’n'Roll Survivors (Remastered and Expanded 2 CD Edition)
Cherry Red [Release date 19.09.25] We reviewed Fanny’s first 4 studio albums (as a boxset) last year. Their fifth and last album, released in 1974, was called Rock’n’Roll Survivors. Aptly named. This new, 2 CD version has been expanded and … Continue reading
Album review : CARL BALDASSARRE – Deep Grooves
CB Music [Release date : 12.09.25] You have to admire Carl Baldassarre’s honesty for treating this self produced album as an academic exercise rather than a labour of love, although love of music of whatever stripe is clearly his motivation. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Carl Baldassarre, funk, Jacob Dupre, Kool and the Gang, Nick D’Virgilio, review, Sly Stone, soul, Stevie Wonder
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Album review : THE SWITCH – No Way Out
Frontiers [Release date 12.08.25] It’s in some way inspiring to hear a band embracing the past wholeheartedly. Pretty well everywhere you scratch the paint on No Way Out, you’ll find the 1980s underneath. The Switch was formed by identical twin … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), Albums of the Month, ALL POSTS
Tagged Bobby John, Cruzh, Denis Butabi Borg, James Martin, melodic rock, Nitrate, review, The Switch, Tom Martin, Vega
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Album review : JOE MEEK – A Curious Mind (3 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date: 29.08.25] Anyone in anyway familiar with the story of legendary British Music producer, Joe Meek, will know that he cut his electronics’ teeth in the 1950s, operating and maintaining the complexities of the RAF’s radar equipment. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged A Curious Mind, Edgar Varese, Heinz, Joe Meek, John Leyton, Lord Sutch, Mike Berry, review, Space, Telstar, Tornadoes
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Album review : THE LIGHTHOUSE FAMILY – Ocean Drive 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (4 CD boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 29.08.25] A more than interesting remaster from pop soul duo, the Lighthouse Family. This 4 CD set comprises their debut album, the almost 2 million selling Ocean Drive, plus 3 CDs of remixes. More on … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged California, Lifted, Lighthouse Family, Newcastle, Ocean Drive, Paul Tucker, Pop soul, review, Tunde Baiyewu
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Album review : UNEN – Forever Winter
Frontiers Music [Release date : 29.08.25] Broadly speaking, in English, the Finnish word “Unen” means “We stand united”. No surprise really. Arriving at a definitive line-up has taken time, and you could almost hear a joint sigh of relief from … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Evanescence, Finnish, Frontiers Music, melodic metal, review, Stina Girs, symphonic rock, Unen
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Album review : RISING STEEL – Legion Of The Grave
Frontiers Music [Release date : 29.08.25] Third full studio album on the Frontiers’ label from French metallers, Rising Steel, who remain a solid line up. Steel Zard – drums, Tony Steel – guitar, Steff Leadmaster – lead guitar , Stone … Continue reading
Album review : SWEET FREEDOM – Blind Leading The Blind
Frontiers [Release date : 29.08.25] Swedish band Sweet Freedom is the real deal. Head and shoulders above most others walking the Classic Rock road nowadays (even if occasionally going off tangentially). The band: founder member Jorgen Schelander’s background is in … Continue reading
Album review – WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN : Story Of US Folk Music 1963-69
Cherry Red [Release date 29.08.25] The transition of folk music into chart-aimed rock and pop accelerated through the sixties, especially in the USA. This 4 CD set is cleverly constructed to show that evolution, disc by disc. So, on Disc … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged boxset, Dylan, folk music, folk rock, Joan Baez, Judy Henske, review, Simon and Garfunkel, sixties, The Byrds, USA
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Album review : CROWNE – Wonderland
Frontiers [Release date 22.08.25] Wonderland is Crowne’s third album. Here’s what we said about the band’s second album, Operation Phoenix (2023): “This is grab you by the lapels, get right in your face melodic rock. Macho, slick, streamlined.” This one … Continue reading
Album review : ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL: The UK Pop Explosion 1967-69
Cherry Red [Release date 22.08.25] All Things Bright And Beautiful comprises of 82 tracks and 3 CDs. Several of the songs in the boxset were used to launch the first hour of the BBC’s pop music flagship, Radio One, in … Continue reading
Album review : UFO – Misdemeanour Live At The Oxford Apollo 1985 (CD+DVD)
Cherry Red [Release date : 22.08.25] The early eighties were a turbulent time for UFO. Judging by the band’s poorly received Making Contact album in 1982, it looked like they were a spent force. Members left, most notably, Pete Way … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged AOR, CD and DVD, eighties, hard rock, Misdemeanour Live, Oxford Apollo, Phil Mogg, review, Tommy McLendon
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Album review : HELLOWEEN – Giants And Monsters
Reigning Phoenix Music [Release date 29.08.25] The Magnificent Seven : Daniel Löble (drums), Markus Grosskopf (bass), Sascha Gerstner (guitars), Kai Hansen (guitars, vocals) Michael Weikath (guitars), Michael Kiske (vocals), Andi Deris (vocals). The longer gap between Helloween albums again seems … Continue reading
Album review : YESTERDAY & TODAY – S/T and Struck Down (Remasters)
Rock Candy Records [Release date 18.07.25] 1972 : In the days before they abbreviated to Y&T, they called themselves Yesterday & Today, after the Beatles’ latest US album release of the time, allegedly. The band line up got shuffled a … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Cream, Dave Meniketti, hard rock, review, Rock Candy Records, Struck Down, UFO, Y&T, Yesterday & Today
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Album review : KIX – Kool Atomic Kix (8 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 25.07.25] Something of a pop metal institution, KIX, the band, the brand, retired gracefully from the musicbiz in 2023, more than forty long years after the self titled debut album hit the streets. CD1 : … Continue reading
Album review : JIMMY WEBB – A Life In Words And Music (7 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 25.07.25] By the time Jimmy Webb got to Phoenix he had won every conceivable music award, he’d written hit after hit after hit, most notably for The Fifth Dimension, Richard Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Glen Campbell … Continue reading
Album review : ENUFF Z’NUFF – Extra Cherries
Cleopatra [Release date : 25.07.25] Enuff Z’Nuff have released 6 albums in the last ten years. The latest, Extra Cherries is the 20th since the 1989 debut. The band, plagued by illness, worn down by constant touring, has seen members … Continue reading
Album review : CATS IN SPACE – Chapter 1 (Remastered 4 CD boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date 25.07.25] Now out of print, CIS’s first 4 sold out album releases have been dusted down and polished up by Cherry Red Records’ Tech experts. Chapter 1 is a 4CD clamshell, containing : CD1 : Too … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged 10CC, Cats In Space, Daytrip to Narnia, Greg Hart, Mick Wilson, power pop, review, Scarecrow, Too Many Gods
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Album review : HONEYMOON SUITE – Wake Me When The Sun Goes Down
Frontiers Music [Release date : 25.07.25] Words to live your life by. As one who frequently mainlines on the band’s uncut 2006 Anthology, Feel It Again, a new Honeymoon Suite album is cause for celebration. Previous album, Alive was the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Alive, Clifton Hill, Covid, Derry Grehan, Desmond Child, Honeymoon Suite, Johnny Dee, melodic rock, Mike Krompass, Mutt Lange, review
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Album review : SEALS & CROFTS – Gold and Rainbows – The Warner Bros Years 1969-78 (5-CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 18.07.25] Harmony rock and pop duo Seals and Croft’s biggest hit single came early on in their career. 1972’s ‘Summer Breeze’ (later covered by the Isley Brothers) was the title track from the duo’s fourth … Continue reading
Album review : V/A – American Power Pop 1980-89 (3-CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date : 18.07.25] Almost 80 tracks over 3 CDs…the third and final volume of Eighties’ American Power Pop will be released on the Cherry Red label later this month. Once again it’s a treasure trove of material. … Continue reading
Album review : DEGREED – The Leftovers
Frontiers [Release date 18.07.25] Only a year after their last full length studio album, Public Address, Degreed now release The Leftovers, a 9 track EP. The title is self explanatory, but there’s a negative connotation there, hinting that these tracks … Continue reading
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Tagged Alexi Laiho, American AOR, Degreed, Johnny Hates Jazz, melodic rock, Public Address, review, synthwave
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Album review – DOUBLE VISION – S/T
Frontiers Music [Release date : 11.07.25] For many years, Double Vision were a Foreigner covers band, as the band name might suggest. They’ve now been given the opportunity by the Frontiers’ label to make their own way. It’s fronted by … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Chandler Mogel, Double Vision, Foreigner, Frontiers Music, melodic rock, Mick Jones, review
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Album review : LAGUNA – The Ghost Of Katrina
Frontiers Music [Release date : 11.07.25] A choir and a spoken word intro, in Spanish, introduces us to Mexico’s rock festival junkies, Laguna. And that’s the thing about putting the miles in. You learn what works and what doesn’t. Then … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged AOR, Bon Jovi, Frontiers Music, Jimmy Westerlund, Laguna, melodic rock, Mexico, One Desire, review
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Album review : ETERNAL IDOL – Behind A Vision
Frontiers Music [Release date : 11.07.25] Eternal Idol have had a brand refresh. Behind A Vision is a more considered album, incomparably better written and better acted out than Renaissance (2020), the band’s second and most recent album. And again, … Continue reading
